If you’re a milquetoast personality, you probably shouldn’t run for president. Charisma and persuasion are requirements for the job. And as I’ve pointed out many times, it’s not enough for presidential primary voters to think you’re a good candidate; because they only get one vote, voters need to believe you’re the best candidate in the field.
But maybe that’s about to change, according to Axios. Apparently some Democrats want to use the ranked choice method for the 2028 presidential primaries, where a candidate could theoretically win by being a consensus second-favorite candidate.
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin and other top party officials have met privately with advocates who are pushing for the [ranked-choice] voting method to be expanded for the 2028 presidential primaries,three sources tell Axios.
…Supporters of the change — which would allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference — told those at a DNC breakfast gathering in D.C. that it would strengthen and unite the party.
They said it would prevent people’s votes from being “wasted” after presidential candidates drop out, and encourage coalition-building among contenders — an attention-grabbing pitch in light of the party’s divisive primaries in 2016 and 2020.
A couple places already used ranked choice in their primaries in 2024. Few noticed that development last cycle, because by the time those primaries rolled around, the nominees were already clear. “On February 8, the Virgin Islands GOP became the first state or territorial Republican party to use [ranked choice voting] in a presidential primary. Maine used RCV in its primaries for both parties on March 5. Democrats in Alaska and Wyoming originally planned to use RCV as well, and included RCV in their delegate selection plans. However, they later decided not to given the small number of candidates remaining and their late primary dates.”
(In 2024, Florida Democrats canceled their presidential primary; that’s called no-choice voting.)
I generally oppose ranked choice voting, but if you’re going to use this system, a presidential primary might be the most logical choice for it. Back in 2022, I wrote, “this system asks voters to have a strong opinion about who their third-, fourth-, and even fifth-favorite candidates are, because how they rank people beyond the bronze-medal level could have real consequences! Now, maybe in a presidential primary, you might have a strong and clear sense of your top-five candidates . . . but in every race?”
Lots of Americans pay little attention to local races or congressional primaries, but presidential primaries get enormous media coverage and attention, for better or worse. (Spoiler alert, worse.) In a crowded presidential primary, voters might actually have strong opinions about which candidates they would rank second through fifth.
For this change to be approved, it would need a majority of the DNC’s 450 members to approve it, and then be adopted by the state party that runs each’s state’s primary or caucus.